| Policy Title | Change in Status, Academic and Professional Employees |
|---|---|
| Responsible Office | Human Resources |
| Policy Type | Personnel and Payroll |
| Policy Number | 606 |
| Last Revision Date | 11/1/2023 |
General
There are a variety of instances where faculty and professional staff change their status at the university, which necessitates required and appropriate personnel/payroll transactions. Such actions may include renewal of term appointment, renewal of temporary appointment, the designation of permanent appointment, starting and returning from leaves of various types, resignation, non-renewal and other forms of termination, changes in title, grade or salary, promotion and reclassifications.
When any of these changes occur in the professional status of academic or professional staff, the department must initiate an HR form indicating the appropriate change, along with required supportive documentation as appropriate. Prior to submitting an HR form, Budget Office approval must be requested and approved through the Position Request Form for personnel actions such as hiring, promotions, percentage change, and changes in funding source. Departments should feel free to contact the Human Resources Office for specific guidance. Once position request approval is received, the HR form should be submitted. This form will move electronically from the department through other offices as appropriate, ending in HR.
The HR Office then processes the change of status into the SUNY HR system and other required systems. In some cases, such as reclassification or promotion, it is critical that the department sponsoring the request communicates as early as possible with the Human Resources Office to assure that the appropriate position is in place at the time the transaction is to be effective. Often, especially for personal service regular lines, it may take up to a month or more to assure that the position title change is effected on the schedule of positions at the Office of the State Comptroller in Albany. The more notice the Human Resources Office has of the possible change, the better to avoid processing delays.
If the change of status involves a change in title for a professional employee, a revised performance program should be forwarded to the Human Resources Office no later than 30 days following the effective date of the change.
Leaves
When the change in status involves a leave of any sort, it is often best for the employee to consult with the Human Resources Office to explore options, alternatives, and ramifications. Sometimes HR will require back up documentation as per practice or law. Leaves that include child-rearing leave, family medical request leaves, general leaves without pay should be discussed with both the home department and the HR Office. For faculty requests having to do with sabbaticals or title F leaves (faculty and professional staff) are required to apply up through the Dean or respective Vice President for these leaves in a timely fashion and to provide those offices with sufficient information regarding proposed activities and research to be conducted throughout the leave.
Termination
In the event of non-renewal, resignation, retirement or death of an academic or professional employee, a discussion with the Human Resources Offices is important. When transferring to another SUNY unit, often prior service credit requests are important to understand as well as the transfer of accrued leave credits and establishing continuity of benefit coverage. The death of an employee triggers the Human Resources Office to counsel the family and make appropriate notifications to various systems in the state system. Any professional employee non-renewals require extensive discussion and planning with the Human Resources Office prior to implementing that action.
Change of Effort
Changing employees from part-time to full-time or vice versa often has important ramifications for the employee in a number of ways, i.e., contractual notice periods, employee benefits packages, amount of accruals earned, etc. Since those transactions will generally also involve salary changes, it is critical to communicate with the Human Resources Office as far in advance as possible regarding these changes.
Contacts:
Employment Team, 607-777-2187
Senior Associate Director of Human Resources, 607-777-6613
Director of Human Resources, 607-777-4939
